The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

WIDESPREAD power outages swept across New Providence on Tuesday night after Bahamas Power and Light blamed overloaded circuits caused by “peak system demand.”

BPL said customers in Bamboo Boulevard, Pinewood, Churchill Subdivision, Windsor Field, Harbourside West and the Girl Guides area, including the newly added Goldwynn Condominiums complex, lost power between 9pm Tuesday and the early morning hours of yesterday.

The company said the outages were caused by circuit overloads linked to “peak system demand”.

By press time, BPL said the affected circuits had been restored and customers had electricity again. The company said it was closely monitoring system demand and urged consumers to use electricity efficiently, particularly during peak hours, to help maintain system stability.

The outages deepened public frustration about enduring long hours without electricity in the summer heat.

Michael Cartwright, a Pinewood resident, said outages in his area had been limited earlier this summer before Tuesday night’s disruption.

Mr Cartwright said he was playing a video game around 9.45pm when the electricity suddenly went off. He said the outage lasted about an hour before power returned for only about five minutes, then failed again. He said electricity was not fully restored to his home until around midnight.

“This is something that is happening, and it's unfortunate,” he said. “I encourage people to have generators and buy power banks.”

Another resident in Sir Lynden Pindling Estates said the repeated interruptions created discomfort and concern about damage to appliances.

“What is particularly disturbing is that it came on and went off about three times within the span of an hour,” he said. “There are concerns not only about the discomfort in the night heat, but also about safeguarding household appliances.”

BPL later announced that several western New Providence communities would be placed on a rotational power supply schedule while crews repaired a cable fault. The company said the rotational schedule was expected to change every three hours.

The latest disruptions came less than two weeks after Mrs Coleby-Davis told Parliament that BPL had enough generation capacity to meet summer demand, even as Long Island MP Andre Rollins accused her of misleading Parliament after earlier outages left Bahamians “sweating” over the weekend.

Mrs Coleby-Davis said she had been advised that sufficient generation coverage was in place to meet demand.

Free National Movement Deputy Leader Shanendon Cartwright yesterday tied the outages to broader cost-of-living pressure, saying Bahamians are being squeezed by high electricity bills, expensive groceries and unreliable power.

He called on Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis to bring relief to people struggling with the cost of living.

“For years we've heard speeches from the Davis administration about 'shared sacrifice' and 'tough decisions'. But the only people sacrificing are Bahamian families,” he said in a statement. “The only thing getting tough is the cost of living.”

“Where is the Prime Minister's fight for lower power bills? Where is his fight to limit taxes and increases on government services? Where is his fight to cut government waste before cutting into our paycheques?”